A very humorous but fake study from the conservative “The Intelligence Institute” has been circulating around the Internet. The headline: “Intelligence Institute Study shows Fox News viewers have an IQ that is 20 points lower than the U.S. National average” The good news, the study says, “…an IQ of 80 is well above the score of 70, which is where psychiatrists diagnose mental retardation. P. Nichols says an IQ of 80 will not limit anyone’s ability to lead happy, fulfilling lives.”
Again, that is fake.
But it turns out that there is something else going on.
The underlying conclusions of this “study” are affirmed by research conducted by a number of reputable organizations including the University of Maryland, NBC/Wall Street Journal, and the Sunlight Foundation. Unfortunately, this study, and the “Intelligence Institute,” appear to be figments of some prankster’s imagination. There is no evidence that the institute exists and the sole source for the Yahoo! item is a press release that contains no verifiable identifying data.
Nevertheless, the perpetrator of this hoax seems to have a solid grasp on the cognitive capacity of Fox News viewers even if no study was conducted to document it. As noted above, plenty of other real studies arrived at the same conclusions. Here are some key “findings” by the imaginary Intelligence Institute…
And for that information, CLICK HERE.
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Maybe are Fox News Viewers not less intelligent… but surely they don’t like intelligence.
Regards,
Mauro.
—
http://pensieri-eretici.blogspot.com
No Fox viewers are not less intelligent.
Ever notice how most of your places where liberalism thrives has fluoride in the water and the rural parts of America where fluoride is not added to the water are primarily traditional conservatives?
Told you it was something in the water making people crazy. That explains 11/6/12. MSLSD and Chris Matthews also played a role.
Kevin, I thank you for that valuable information.
I live in Texas, and many of my co-workers are regular Fox News viewers. They are also intelligent, college educated, successful professionals with 100K+ incomes. They are typically heavily involved in church, family, and community activities. They share the social conservative leanings one expects from Fox viewers, but they are worlds apart from the the stereotypical bigots, racists, and uneducated backwoods, Nascar loving, trailer trash that is the cartoonish liberal vision of the Fox News audience. At the same time, my work place is a melting pot of different cultures and religions and we all get along well. Understanding why that is would be worthy of some study. If you look at the demographics of Houston, it is one of the most multi-cultural cities in the US. It has openly lesbian mayor who is both successful and popular. It is also home to huge mega churches that reflect the significant evangelical population. Despite all that, the polarizing nature of politics and the culture wars is happily absent from my day to day life. I see it on the news, I read about it in blogs, but I am perfectly comfortable being an immigrant atheist in South Texas.
No, they are not relatively less intelligent. They are SIGNIFICANTLY less intelligent.
Apparently Kevin Sanders has never seen a Commie drink a glass of water.
I’m not sure I buy the premise that Fox News viewers are significantly dumber than average, but that’s because most mainstream media outlets are not that much better. CNN? WaPo? GMAFB. I’ll believe that the average Fox viewer is dumber than people who only see Fox News via the likes of Jon Stewart (and therefore understand that Stewart is laughing at, not with, Fox News), but these days I’m not optimistic about the intelligence of the average American.
No I have never seen a commie drink a glass of water becuase I usually stay far away from the enemy so as not to see his face. I did not realize that commies drank anything but whiskey that was confiscated from working people. If they do drink water, they probaby drink someone else’s water. That how communism works. Always stealing something that belongs to someone else. Sounds familair. Sounds like the United States Senate these days.
Greg
You are welcome. Let me know if I can be of further assistance. I am here until the fiscal cliff tax hike leads me into wilderness survival mode.
MSNBC seems way more intellectual than Fox…they have more shows about starting a small business…their experts and guests are more factual and straight talking without the juvenile “snarky” behavior of many Fox guests. Those on Fox are often angry and outraged which interferes with the logical side of their brain…..in other words, they can’t think straight and are only interested in constantly finding blame…..that’s as far as their angry, un-evolved brains can think.
Kevin Sanders demonstrates that Jack D. Ripper was not a fictional character invented by Stanley Kubrick, but rather suggests that Kubrick had to have met Sanders and was then inspired to add the character to his classic film…